Surjya Kanta Mishra: The 'daktar babu' who withstood the 2011 'Trinamool Tornado'

NEW DELHI: Dr Surjya Kanta Mishra is probably best known for being one of the few Left Front leaders who didn't get blanked out by the Trinamool Congress in the watershed 2011 West Bengal Assembly elections.
The physician is the 'unofficial' candidate for chief minister of West Bengal in the alliance between his Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and the Congress party in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.In fact, Dr Mishra is said to be the architect of the Congress-CPM alliance for 2016.
To say that he has his task cut out would be a gross understatement, but he's had an excellent electoral record, at least individually.
Dr Mishra has contested from the Narayangarh Assembly seat in West Midnapore since1991 and won - every time. That's the seat he contested from again, this year, in the state Assembly elections.
Dr Mishra joined the CPM in 1973. Last year, he was named secretary of the West Bengal unit of the CPM. He had the backing of the formidable former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Becoming secretary of the CPM's West Bengal unit is no mean feat, considering the state, along with Kerala, is one of the centres of India's Left parties. He was no doubt being rewarded for his successes in West Midnapore.
More than that, though, his elevation was seen as a sign of the CPM -whose old guard is notorious for hanging on to top party positions - making way for the younger generation. Dr. Mishra is 67.
Dr Mishra's worked in West Midnapore since the 1970s and became zilla parishad president there in the 1980s. He was later health, land reforms and panchayat minister in the Bhattacharjee government. The 'daktar babu' - as he's fondly called in his constituency - became leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly in 2011. Then in 2012, he was named a member of the CPM politburo.
Being leader of the opposition and the CPM state secretary at the same time is a distinction only held by former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. And the latter held that position in the 1950s.
Dr Mishra is described variously as being stoic, reserved, witty and introverted. Not that these attributes can't coexist, but it points to how little most outside of Bengal - or even in Bengal - know about him.

When named secretary of the CPM's state unit, Kolkata's The Telegraph wrote: "Mishra is known for his stoicism unlike his predecessor (Biman) Bose, who remains the Left Front chairman. The new state secretary is measured in his words and not known for emotional outpourings. He was stoical even after his coronation."
The Indian Express, on the other hand, wrote: Mishra "has been an energetic and witty Leader of Opposition in the assembly."
The Telegraph said: "He (Mishra) was stoical even after his coronation." That's because the physician said this after being named secretary: "Today is not a day to rejoice. My party has given me an immense responsibility. Difficult times are prevailing in Bengal."
Dr Mishra isn't the only one who's being stoic or skeptical.
"Surjyada has an uphill task. Our party is in deep crisis. He has to restore the credibility of the party and re-establish the organisation's social connect. Moreover, he has to nullify the threat from the BJP," a CPM leader is quoted as saying about him.
While Dr Mishra's always won in Narayangarh, he's got a tough battle there this time around. Fielded against him there are the TMC's Pradyut Ghosh and the BJP's Krishnapada Roy.
And the TMC, for one, has made inroads in all of West Midnapore that includes the Narayanagarh seat. In the Panchayat elections in 2013, the TMC won 15 of the 16 main Panchayat positions. In the 2014 nation elections, it won the Midnapore Lok Sabha seat by a hefty margin.
The Daily News & Analysis newspaper said that Mishra wasn't keen on contesting any Assembly seats because of his responsibilities as the state's party secretary.
To be sure, Dr Mishra's spent more time campaigning all around the state for his party than in Narayangarh for himself.
West Bengal is a responsibility Dr Mishra doesn't take lightly. He said as much when he was named secretary of the state unit of the CPM. "Trinamool Congress hataao, Bengal bachaao; BJP hataao, desh bachaao." That translates to "remove the TMC, save Bengal; Remove the BJP, save India'.
As for Narayangarh, what might work in Dr Mishra's favour, some news reports say, is that he's the chief ministerial candidate for the CPM-Congress alliance. After all, in 2011, even when not the chief ministerial face for his party, he won Narayangarh by more than 7,000 votes against his TMC rival.
The reality, though, is that Narayanagarh is not West Bengal.